


Of The Night

by ItsaVikingThing



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: A small story of Republic City by night, F/F, Korra and Asami through someone else's eyes, Korrasami Week 2018, prompt: hero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-13 22:16:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16027076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsaVikingThing/pseuds/ItsaVikingThing
Summary: Republic City never really sleeps. Even in the late hours of the night, people work and live and get into trouble. Some people, like the Avatar, are heroes who are ready to help no matter the hour. And some people make their own, smaller contributions to the welfare of the city and its people...





	Of The Night

Zhin is of the night. He does his work in the hours of darkness, in the hours when most citizens of Republic City think that the city is asleep. Zhin knows better: Republic City never sleeps.

When night falls and most of the citizens who claim this place as their home--but do not _know_ it--drape the cloak of sleep around themselves, the city lives. And those who live--and sometimes thrive--in the darkness take up their burdens. In the night may be found poets and gang members, thieves and cleaners, dock workers and bartenders, freight haulers and artists, gamblers and police officers. 

The night brings villains and the night brings heroes.

Zhin does not belong to any of those groups, but he has met members of them all. Because where people skulk, and wander, and work, and love, and despair, and hate, and hope, and _live_ , they must eat. 

Zhin is a chef. He runs a stall on the edge of the docks, a street away from the night market. He sleeps through the day and he works through the night, every night, because if people are to eat, someone must feed them. All the people of the night find their way to Zhin's stall eventually, and they bring Republic City with them, in their talk, their stories, their joys, and their sorrows.

Zhin opens his stall long after the offices and the shops are closed. He closes his stall when the dawn comes. There are many others who feed the people of the day, who hear their stories, who read the pulse of the city in their smiles and in their sighs. Zhin is not arrogant. It is not his place to serve the people of the day, too. The people of the day and the people of the night might share a home, they might overlap, but Zhin has always thought of them as distinct, though they are related. Like different tribes from a common ancestor. 

And then a night comes that brings with it an encounter that challenges that view. The night is almost over, and Zhin is glad, because it has been too warm tonight, and too dry, and because this dry night has brought smoke like chameleon-squid ink, staining the sky black with fear. Judging from where the smoke arose, it was clear that a fire had started in the warehouse district. But where a fire starts, the question becomes where will it end? Zhin could not say. Only the night could say.

And so Zhin had worried through the night. Fire can claim lives. Fire can spread. Fire is a kind of hunger that even Zhin's cooking cannot satisfy. But as the night wore on, and Zhin worked and fed the handful of people who came to him, others worked to tame that fire. And now, as the dawn is almost upon him, and the street is empty of night people and day people both, and Zhin sets about dousing his cook fires, what was a pillar of smoke has become a feather.

Even though Zhin has had fewer than usual customers tonight, his heart is as light as his cashbox as he works. The fire is gone, and tomorrow will bring more customers. Zhin is content to surrender to the dawn for now. He begins to stow his knives in a roll of canvas, humming softly to himself, until he realises that he is no longer alone.

A woman walks calmly towards his stall through the fading night. Her dark skin is soot-stained, her bright blue eyes tired but alive. She wears no uniform, not on her body or in her bearing. She smiles at Zhin, a crooked twitch of her lips that shows only honest happiness. 

She says, "I've passed here a few times but never had a chance to stop. Your food always smells  _ so _ good." Her smile becomes rueful. "But I guess I'm too late tonight?"

Zhin bows his head. "I close when the sun is about to rise. I have doused my cook fires."

She sighs wistfully. "Ah, that's okay. I'll try again another time."

She waves and turns away.

Zhin hesitates, but only for a moment. "You fought the fire?"

She turns back, and nods. "It was a big one, but it didn't do too much damage. No lives lost. It started in a Cabbage Corp chemical storage, which is...gone now.  But we got it contained early, so most of the other warehouses are intact. Still, it took a long time to put it out."

"Why...?" Zhin trails off, feeling awkward. This woman is not exactly of the night, and she is neither of the police and fire department, but she risked herself anyway. Zhin is curious, but he fears his curiosity has made him rude. "That is to say, how did you become involved in such a thing? You are not of...the district."

The woman shrugs. "I...help out where help's needed. That’s all."

And that is something Zhin  _ does _ understand. So he inclines his head and says, "I am Zhin. If you wait, I will make you sushi."

"I'm Korra." Her grin is like the moon appearing through a cloudbank to pierce the darkness. "And I will  _ eat _ your sushi!"

Each of them is true to their word. Zhin works quickly, not because of the sun creeping up over the horizon, but because he has a customer, and his customer is hungry. Korra watches how he handles the knife, her eyes wide and interested. Her silence Zhin finds both amiable and respectful. And when she eats, it is with an appetite and relish that puts a smile on even Zhin's lips. 

The sun is fully above the water of Yue Bay when Korra has finished. She thanks Zhin humbly, pays him far more generously than is required, and leaves with a friendly wave, striding confidently into the dawn.

When she's gone, Zhin scratches his chin and murmurs, "I have met the Avatar, then. I thought she was of the day. But perhaps I was wrong..."

He takes the rest of his musings along with his knives to the place where he sleeps out the day.

The next night Avatar Korra visits Zhin's stall half an hour before dawn, and this time she is not alone. The woman she brings with her  _ does _ wear a uniform, one bearing the logo of Future Industries. It is of far better cut and quality than any common worker's clothes. This woman is pale, green-eyed, and possessed of both lustrous black hair and an alert expression in spite of the early hour.

Everything about her says that she is a person of the day, and not long woken.

"Korra," Zhin greets the Avatar, feeling a little uneasy. "May I be of service?"

Korra smiles. "You could make us some of the most delicious sushi ever, Zhin." She seems to pick up on his uncertainty. "If, uh, that's okay?"

Zhin hesitates as the other woman approaches his stall. She climbs onto one of Zhin's worn stools, leans an elbow on the serving shelf, and smiles at Zhin. Her smile is more reserved than Korra's, but seems no less genuine. 

She says, "My name is Asami. Your food is apparently so good that it got Korra out of bed before  _ me _ today. Do you know how often that never happens?"

"Hey, now!" Korra hops onto a stool beside Asami, her eyes shining even though her lips are pouting. "I'm up early all the time!"

Asami touches Korra's cheek gently. "Only when you haven't been to bed, Korra."

There is no hint of accusation or criticism in her voice, only warmth, only concern, only love. While Korra grumbles quietly, Zhin makes his decision. He puts some rice into a steamer, selects a fish, and a knife, and goes to work.

When he serves the first plate, Asami's expression has become more open and more intent. Korra slides the plate towards Asami, her smile eager. "Try it!"

Asami takes a bite, chews, and swallows. She sighs happily. To Zhin she says, "If you need financial backing to open a restaurant, I'd be happy to supply it."

Day people. Zhin suppresses a sigh of his own and answers how he always does when someone says such foolish things to him. He gestures at his stall and says, "I have a restaurant. And I have customers who must be fed. If I were elsewhere, doing different work, who would feed my people?"

Asami blinks and opens her mouth, as if ready to argue, like all the others have in the past. But just as Zhin braces himself for it, Asami surprises him. She glances at Korra, and smiles. "You've found your calling." 

Asami dips her head in a bow. When she straightens up, her expression is calm and contains no trace of their brief disagreement. "Well, Korra was right about your food. It's incredible."

Zhin blinks, but quickly bows in acknowledgement of the praise. Zhin is not arrogant, but he strives to be polite.

Korra, laughing, lays a hand on Asami's arm. "See, I love your food, but I'm easy to please. Asami though? She's  _fussy_. When she says something's incredible, it's a big deal!" 

"I'm not fussy," Asami protests, the laughter in her voice belying her seeming outrage. "Disliking pickled tiger-whale blubber isn't being fussy!" 

Korra shakes her head. "Uh, it's a Southern Water Tribe classic? So, yeah, pretty fussy. And kinda rude!"

"Disliking something isn't rude!"

"Making me throw out all my perfectly pickled tiger-whale blubber was pretty rude, Asami!"

"You’d already had it for weeks and it stank! And you _didn't_ throw it out, you fed most of it to Naga, then made yourself sick bingeing on the rest!" 

"Pfft. Details!"

They bicker for a while as they eat, and as Zhin serves them. Their voices are warm even when their words seem cold. At length their talk turns to other things, concerning the city and the world beyond, and even to Zhin and his food. Though Zhin doubts that they could make anyone feel as welcome as they make each other feel, the warmth and interest they extend to him seems as honest as the stars that guide sailors through darkness and into home waters.

When they leave, Zhin is shocked to find that the sun has come up. While Zhin closes down his stall, Korra and Asami walk a few yards away before they stop and kiss. Asami wipes a smear of lipstick from Korra's lips, her fingers lingering on the curve of Korra's cheek. Korra kisses the palm of Asami’s hand, says something for Asami's ears alone, and then they go their separate ways.

They each wave goodbye to Zhin before they leave his sight.

Zhin scratches his chin and thinks. Even though he is finishing his night under the brightness of a new day, Zhin's heart is untroubled. Zhin is not like the Avatar, nor even like Asami Sato, but he cares for people--his people--in his own way. 

And if neither Korra nor Asami are truly of the night, Zhin thinks that they are still his people. For it is clear to Zhin that Korra considers it her duty to help others, and she offers her help to everyone, day or night. And it is clear to Zhin that Asami has made it _her_ duty to care for the Avatar, for the woman she loves, for the woman who cares for everyone. And that is a decision that Zhin respects. Indeed, it makes him glad that Korra has Asami to care for her.

And so Zhin makes a quiet vow under the spreading light of day, one suitable to a man with as little to offer his city as he does: whenever Korra or Asami should find their way to his stall, they will not leave hungry. 

Vow made, Zhin closes his stall, shoulders his roll of knives, and walks home, ceding his city to the people of the day.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Korrasami Week!
> 
> I fear this is the only entry I'll manage this year, because Other Things, but maybe I'll try to make another small story happen this week.
> 
> In any event, thanks for reading and I hope you have a good week!


End file.
